First Honey Super On!

It is a big day for the apiary as I added the first honey super! In just one week's time, the girls have nearly filled the 3rd hive body with eggs, larvae and honey. It is simply amazing how quickly a hive grows in strength and productivity.

This photo is of the third frame in the middle hive body (I'm using three medium supers for the hive body.) Lovely brood pattern and lots of honey.

I did not take the time to search out the queen because she's doing such a super job as evidenced by the amount of eggs present. Instead, I was looking for swarm cells and removed two uncapped queen cells found on the bottom of a frame in the middle box. I rotated the hive boxes so that the emptiest bottom box is now on the top.

One important step in learning how to be a beekeeper is effective and minimal use of a smoker. I have been having trouble keeping it light throughout my whole inspection as I find a quick couple of puffs disperses the bees and allows placement of a hive box or cover without crushing the bees.

To take the advice of long-time bee keeper Bob Cory, fire burns from the bottom. So I took great care today to create a nice base fire. I did think it had burned out before I was finished with my inspection but with good use of the bellows, we were still able to communicate with the Chief via smoke signals well after I was finished.